Type-length-value (TLV) elements, also known as attribute-value pair or information elements (IEs), are data constructs usable for providing information (e.g., attributes) in protocol packets or other messages. For example, a TLV element may include an identifier indicating a type or kind of information contained therein, a length of the information contained therein, and the value or information contained therein. Various communications protocols and/or data representation schemes (e.g., extensible markup language (XML)) may use TLV elements for exchanging and/or storing information. For example, Diameter and remote authentication dial in user service (RADIUS) are authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) protocols and use TLV elements to provide information in various messages.
Some message processing nodes may be configured to process (e.g., encode, decode, and/or other actions) messages containing TLV elements. For example, a Diameter signaling router may be configured to decode an ingress message containing TLV elements, modify the TLV elements, add TLV elements, remove TLV elements, encode an egress message containing the modified TLV elements and/or the additional TLV elements, and send the egress message to a destination. Accordingly, the performance of a message processing node may be dependent on the performance of decode and/or encode operations used for messages containing TLV elements. Existing solutions often have to use multiple data structures with duplicated information and/or circular cross references, or a single data structure with no duplication of information but with computational inefficiencies. As such, these solutions are generally resource inefficient (e.g., requiring more memory and/or processing resources) and/or error prone (e.g., requiring more maintenance).
Accordingly, a need exists for improved methods, systems, and computer readable media for processing messages containing TLV elements.